Home | The Blind Scribe – Page 48 – Blind Reader, Writer, Life

Netflix Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows Blog Tour

May 13, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Thursday bookish people! I’m so excited for my post today. By now I’m sure most of you have seen that the very popular book series’ Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo have been turned into a TV series which is currently on Netflix. If you haven’t watched it yet I’d really recommend it!

As happens often with shows based on books, new tie in covers have been released for the series and they are beautiful! I usually don’t like tie in covers but these ones I do like – I already have two copies of both Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows I really shouldn’t buy another version of them… but I probably will.

I’m very lucky to be part of the tour with Terminal Tours and as part of my stop I will be showing you my mood board for the series and also doing a little dream cast at the end!

Shadow and Bone

Synopsis:

Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.

Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/2QFGU6B

Six of Crows

Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3ntukn5

Mood Board:

Here is a small collection of the images on my mood board for this series, if you are interested in seeing the complete mood board you can see it here: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/olivia2534/sabsoc/

Dream Cast:

If I had done this before watching the show then I probably would have cast different people for all of them – except Ben Barnes, I was pretty excited about ben Barnes playing The Darkling.. anyway, now that I’m making a dream cast after I have seen the show I can say that Ben Barnes as General Kirigan, Amita Suman as Inej Ghafa, Kit Young as Jesper and Jessie Mei Li as Alina Starkov were brilliant casting choices for their characters. I enjoyed all of the characters in the show but these were some of the people that were in my head when I pictured the characters:

Toby Regbo as Matthias – he is known for playing Frances on Reign.

Cameron Monaghan as Kaz Brekker – he is known for many things but I know him for playing Jerome Valaska on Gotham. I saw somebody else fan cast him as Kaz Brekker and then I couldn’t get it out of my head – although I do love Freddie Carter’s portrayal in the show.

I was also going to show my dream casting for the roles of Nina Zenik and Mal Oretsyev however, I didn’t find anyone that I felt matched how I was viewing them in my head and the way the books described them so, I’m going to leave it here.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

Where'd I Leave It Wednesday

The Misadventures Of My Bladder – Where’d I Leave It Wednesday

May 12, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Wednesday everyone! It’s time for another story. This one is a mix of a few stories around a topic. I hope you all enjoy it.

The misadventures of the bladder

I have a weak bladder. More recently especially. This had led to some interesting events and many embarrassing moments throughout my life. I think it stems from being at secondary school and holding it all day. I wouldn’t go to the toilet from the time I left home at twenty to eight until I got home at four each day. Simply because I couldn’t see well enough to go down stairs to the toilet in the basement. The stairs were redecorated to ‘help’ me and they made them a navy blue with heaps of glitter flowing in it and a black stripe on the edge. They might as well have taken the stairs out all together and made it a ramp because that is what it looked like, to me anyway. I also took a few trips down them missing out more than a couple steps on my way down each time. That is the only adrenaline rush I ever needed.
          Not that I wanted to use that toilet anyway, the rumour was that many years before I went there a girl hung herself in that toilet. Nobody ever checked if it was true or not but it was enough to frighten me. Not that it takes much to frighten me. I have weak nerves as well as a weak bladder. I was only prepared to use that toilet, even though I never did, because the toilets upstairs in the main hall were the meeting place of an older group of girls. They hung around in the toilets at break and lunch as if they were a secret agency and didn’t want anyone to see them. Either that or they were hiding from a male teacher. They would be in there eating their lunch and I have a problem with other people and food. Generally other people touching my food. I can’t drink out of a glass somebody else has drunk out of, I can’t eat off a piece of cutlery somebody else has eaten off. So, girls eating lunch in the bathroom ruled out me ever going within touching distance of the door handle let alone actually going toilet in there.
            This is what I believe was the beginning of my misadventures. It certainly wasn’t the end of them. Trains are disorientating for me. You can sit in your seat and not know if you are going to be travelling forwards or backwards. It doesn’t help that I can’t see which part of the train is the engine so when I find my seat it really is a mystery. But the toilets on trains really are the things that haunt my nightmares. For one thing, you have to walk past everyone else in your carriage to get to the section where the toilet is. You might as well have a large sign stuck to your forehead in neon flashing letters saying “I’m going to the toilet”. As if that isn’t bad enough you don’t know until you get there if the toilet is already occupied. If it is not only have you tried the handle and let the person in there know you are waiting but, I know from experience, it makes them try and hurry whatever they are doing. It’s a very awkward moment between two people when they have to squeeze past you as you swap occupants of the toilet. Both of you at this point also know you heard everything that happened in that bathroom since you have been there. Its an intimate knowledge of a stranger that you could probably have lived without knowing. I know I could have. It’s happened to me many times, I have been both people in that situation. Toilets are difficult for me in general because I have hypermobility in my fingers and so locks can be difficult to navigate. Luckily, I am also disabled and I can use disabled toilets. It’s a luxury I don’t think I deserve. An expansive space, an easy handle lock that I can fit my whole hand around rather than using two nimble fingers to gently edge a bolt lock shut. No fear surrounding me as I use the bathroom that, maybe this time, I won’t be able to get the lock open and I will be stuck in the toilet forever. I’ve even been known to think up a list of toilet monster names for myself just in case this ever happens. The toilets on trains are not like disabled toilets. They are small and not very helpful for blind people. There are little signs with instructions hidden behind the toilet and behind the sink, you would have to be a contortionist to be able to read them. And that is if you have working eyes never mind eyes that like to do their own thing. I’ve become accustomed to spending most of my time on a toilet, not just on trains, because of being locked in. I’ve always gotten out eventually but there is one moment that I remember well.
           It was 2014 and my whole family was on the Eurostar on the way to Disneyland Paris for my sister’s eighteenth birthday. We had been lulled into a false sense of security when they upgraded our tickets to first class for free. They had fed us up like they were the Witch and we were Hansel and Gretel. We didn’t suspect a thing. Then it got to the inevitable moment when a few of us, my Grandma, my Sister and I, all needed the toilet. It was lucky on this train there were enough toilets in a row for us to all go. Then, unbelievably, all three of us got stuck. We pulled on the locks but they wouldn’t budge. The toilets were our prison cells for the next ten minutes or so. At least they were next to each other. We could talk to each other through the walls like we were convicts in a production of Les Misérables. Then finally we were freed. Nobody could believe how unlucky we were, its bad that one person could get stuck but for all three of us at the same time it was barely believable. Although, I would rather get stuck in a toilet than what happened during one of the trips to London. If you have ever wondered what the walls of the toilet stall feels like when travelling at a mid to high speed, I can tell you it feels like you would imagine hitting a solid wall feels like. It hurt. Yes, the train jerked when I was the most vulnerable and with no chance of stopping myself, I was propelled off the toilet and into the wall. It happened fast and it took me a few moments to realise that I was now sprawled on the floor. I had to try and leave the toilet with a dignity that I no longer possessed. And that everyone in that train carriage that I now had to pass on my way back to my seat almost definitely heard the impact I made with the wall. It was not my best moment. These are only some of the misadventures of my bladder.

That’s it for today’s story, I hope you enjoyed it!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Skyseed by Bill McGuire

May 9, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Sunday bookish people! I’m mixing it up a bit today and bringing you a book review on a Sunday! Today is my stop on the blog tour for Skyseed by Bill McGuire, thank you to Love Books Tours for sending me a copy of this book to review.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

Skyseed Plot:

I decided to read this book because I knew it would be out of my comfort zone and it’s a good change from the fantasies I usually read. However, I will say now it wasn’t my sort of book but reading is subjective and I can appreciate many good things about it. For example, I thought this book was very unique, I couldn’t think of any similar books to it.

There is a prologue at the beginning of the book and although I didn’t understand where in the timeline this part was, it became obvious later in the story, you are thrown straight into the action with this scene and it sets up the whole book brilliantly. The prologue, and the rest of the book, is full of well written sensory details that transport the reader into the story.

The different chapters intertwined throughout the narrative follow different characters and what happen to them both separately and in relation to other characters, these chapters are refreshing and builds tension. It is building a mystery with every chapter, each one is a completely new layer to dig through to discover what is happening. I started to think that I could start predicting what would happen and then something shocking would happen and I’d be thrown off again.

Skyseed Characters:

There are a lot of characters in this book, and for the most part their perspectives are separated by chapter breaks but not always and I did find myself getting confused about who was speaking, where and when. Saying that I did really like the characters of Jane and Ralph who are two of the ‘main’ characters. Jane is a character who speaks her mind and I enjoyed seeing that and how other characters reacted to her.

Skyseed Writing and Dialogue:

There is a focus on technical language and politics within this book which worked very well for the story. Even though it wasn’t the sort of plot I usually enjoy the writing was smooth and made it very easy for me to read this book, I did read it in a few hours so that showed me the writing was very well done. the dialogue worked for each character, it let their personalities shine through what they were saying and it helped to drive the narrative.

Skyseed Overall Rating:

As you have probably realised by now this book wasn’t a favourite for me but there are many good things about this book. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes Dystopian stories, plot driven narratives and maybe a little science fiction as well. I can give this book a good rating of three stars.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Sometimes, when you’re in a hole, it’s best to stop digging.

This applies as much to messing with the climate as anything else, except even more so.

Jane Haliwell put her head in her hands. To tell the truth, she was still in shock. All the samples she had taken from inside and around the lab contained the enigmatic spheres in huge numbers. She had only had a brief time to think about the implications, but she was pretty sure already what was going on.

For the first time in the history of the world, it was literally raining carbon. Long before it stopped, the guilty would pay, but so would the innocent…

That’s it for this book review, I hope you enjoyed it!

Book Tags

The 50 Bookish Questions Tag

May 7, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! Today I’m posting a book tag that I saw on Adventures of a Bookish Girl’s blog – the 50 bookish questions tag! If you want to do this tag yourself, then consider yourself tagged.

What was the last book you read? This might be cheating a little but I’m about 100 pages away from finishing The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss.
Was it a good one? Yes! The first 100 pages were a bit slow but since the action picked up I’m loving it.
What made it good? Hmm.. a lot of things are good about it but I think I’ll go with the mix of characters in the story.
Would you recommend it to other people? Yes, definitely!
How often do you read? I try to read every day but with my job and University work at the moment It’s been more like three or four times a week.
Do you like to read? Um…yes.
What was the last bad book you read? What A Way To Go by Julia Forster. It isn’t a bad book and other people might love it, that’s the great thing about books, I just got no enjoyment from reading it at all.
What made you dislike it? I didn’t understand the setting or what was happening in the plot and I didn’t feel anything for the characters.
Do you wish to be a writer? Yes, hopefully…I’m just finishing up my Creative Writing Master’s degree right now.
Has any book ever influenced you greatly? Yes, although right now I’m blanking on the names of all of them.. of course.
Do you read fan fiction? Nope.
Do you write fan fiction? That’s also a no.
What’s your favourite book? Right now my favourite book is, and it has been for a while, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern.
What’s your least favourite book? I can think of a lot of these, most of them are books I’ve had to read for my classes like the Odyssey by Homer, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, and Ulysses by James Joyce.
Do you prefer physical books or read on a device? Physical books definitely, I don’t quite get into them as much if I read them on a device – plus glare from the screen.
When did you learn to read? According to my mum I learnt to read before I went to nursery, which is age 4 in the UK, so I was quite young.
What is your favourite book you had to read in school? Ooh that would either be Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck or Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon.
What is your favourite book series? At the moment it is Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco.
Who is your favourite author? I can’t pick one for this, I have too many!
What is your favourite genre? YA, Fantasy, Historical Ficiton, Crime/Thriller – oh wait that’s most of them…
Who is your favourite character in a book series? …I can’t choose.
Has a book ever transported you somewhere else? All the time! Every book really.
Which book do you wish had a sequel? Hm..for this I’m going to say The Left Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix, I have to know what happened to the characters after the end of that book!
Which book do you wish didn’t have a sequel? Ah, I don’t know an answer for this one – so far I don’t remember reading any sequels and thinking they would have been better leaving it at the first book.
How long does it take you to read a book? That depends on how long it is. I usually read 100 pages an hour on average so a 400 page book I will read in about four hours.
Do you like when books become movies? That’s a tough one because sometimes I like them and other times I don’t.
Which book was ruined by it’s movie adaptation? The first one that comes to mind for me is Allegiant, the last book in the Divergent series.
Which movie has done a book justice? Well, I think The Hunger Games was quite good, but the books are still better.
Do you read newspapers? Not usually, sometimes I read the local one that comes through the letterbox.
Do you read magazines? Only my monthly writing magazine and sometimes the odd history magazine if it is something I’m interested in.
Do you prefer newspapers or magazines? Magazines.
Do you read while in bed? Only if I can’t sleep and I decide to read to pass the time.
Do you read while on the toilet? Um.. no.
Do you read while in the car? Yes, especially on a long journey it makes the time fly by.
Do you read while in the bath? After an unfortunate incident definitely not.
Are you a fast reader? I’m told that I am so I guess so.
Are you a slow reader? No.
Where is your favourite place to read? It will sound strange but there’s this spot at the top of the stairs right outside the bathroom where the light is just perfect.
Is it hard for you to concentrate when you read? No, it’s very easy for me.
Do you need a room to be silent when you read? No, actually I like to have a show that I’ve seen a lot of times on in the background – but I do need people to not interrupt and try to talk to me a lot because that’s just annoying.
Who gave you your love for reading? Nobody that I know, my family don’t read that much, other than me.
What book is next on your list to read? Either Lore by Alexandra Bracken or Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.
When did you start to read chapter books? I don’t know exactly but it was early apparently.
Who is your favourite children’s book author? Tanya Landman probably, I loved her books.
What author would you most want to interview? Stephanie Garber, the author of Caraval, I love her books and from her instagram she looks so lovely!
Which author do you think you’d be friends with? All of them, I think I’m quite friendly so I’d just want to be friends with everyone.
What book have you reread the most? The lady in the Tower by Marie Louise Jenson, historical fiction. The book is in quite the state.
Which books do you consider classics? um.. classical books like pre-1800s maybe.
Which books do you think should be taught in every school? Too many to even begin mentioning them here.
Which books should be banned in all schools? I don’t really agree with banning books so I’m not going to answer this question.

That’s it for this book tag, I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Where'd I Leave It Wednesday

An Inadvertent Dalliance: Where’d I Leave It Wednesday

May 5, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Wednesday bookish people! It’s Wednesday which means it is time for another Where’d I Leave it Wednesday.

I love going to the Theatre, I especially enjoy musical theatre but of course as my eyes have deteriorated I now need to be sat in the front row to be able to see. This is fine, but it does limit which shows I can see if everything on the front row gets booked straightaway – anyway, that is a different story.

Today’s story talks about a few of the times going to the Theatre has been… an experience – keep reading to find out what happened some of those times!

An Inadvertent Dalliance

I will never ask my two cousins to book anything that I would also be going to for a very specific reason. They won’t let me book any tickets either because they are afraid that I will mix up the shows because of my visual impairment. Despite the oldest of them being trained in how to guide blind people I don’t feel safe in their company. For the reason that I don’t know where I will end up.
               The youngest of the two is the type of girl that manages to lock herself out of her University house while wearing her pyjamas. I was desperate to see a photo of this but one never materialized. Anyway, the moment that stopped me joining their adventures for good happened at the Theatre. In the enchantment of the spotlight that hangs for a moment, vibrating with the echo of an audience’s applause, after the play has ended. When the curtains open, I’m transported, in the same way as with a book, to another life. In this other life I seem to have the most approachable face because I’ve stopped counting the amount of times I’ve been picked on. I thought it didn’t embarrass me anymore until I saw a show with Shane Ritchie in. In this performance half of the show is the serious side of a comedian’s life and the other is him doing his comedy. When he came out onto the stage, carrying a blow-up naked woman and made eye contact with me for the duration of that scene, was the moment I wished I didn’t need to sit in the front row to see. My eyes, and later my brain, wouldn’t have minded never having to live that moment. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the people I was with not noticed he looked at me. They did. They still bring it up at Christmas.
                 I’ve even been coaxed up on stage during a Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It. I was in a nice dress that I was worried might lift and accidentally flash the whole front row, which included my, at the time, boyfriend Robert. Who – rather than suggest I don’t go onstage for health and safety reasons – all but pushed me onto the stage. Luckily, I didn’t have to do anything too bad and then I was allowed to sit down again. Robert had gotten up and offered me a hand to climb down. To anybody watching his helping hand probably seemed gentlemanly but I know it was just because he was worried that I would fall into his lap. I got my own back later in the second half of the performance. When the ‘Fool’ sat on the step right in front of him, pointed a finger at him and proclaimed “you’re very horny”. They were talking about owning goats so it was out of context but I think my, at the time, boyfriend was suitably embarrassed. He never went with me to a Shakespeare production again.
               But in the case of my cousins it was one of them who was picked on. Originally, we were going to see the performance of 1984. However, I had entrusted my cousins to book the tickets and once we had arrived, taken our seats and could no longer leave the Theatre inconspicuously we realised they had booked the wrong show. What was meant to be an evening of drama and George Orwell became something very different. The spotlight shone on a man sat in the centre of the stage on a wooden stool, wearing a nurse’s dress and eating an orange. If we thought that would be the strangest moment of the show we were mistaken. We sat there for over half an hour of the first half in complete disbelief, the rest of the audience didn’t seem to be confused by what was happening which was even worse for my cousins and I when he began to strip. That was when we could no longer look at each other for fear that we would burst out laughing and interrupt whatever it was that was meant to be happening on stage. Thankfully, he didn’t strip completely. He only took off the nurse’s dress and remained in a white vest and a small pair of underwear. We couldn’t believe it but it got worse from there. He clambered up onto the stool, which was barely big enough to fit both of his feet on, and began to eat the orange in a way that I can only describe as seductively. And while he did this he stared straight at my cousin. That was all her sister, my other cousin, and I needed before we couldn’t hold in the laughs anymore. I had to physically hold my hand over my mouth to remain silent as nobody else in the audience seemed to find it as entertaining as we did. Once he had finished his lunch, he started passing the orange peel between his hands. Left then right and then left again. Then he threw some at the audience, and a bit more and a bit more again. One bit landed on the edge of my cousin’s glasses and hung there like a piece of orange seaweed. Dangling in front of her eyes. She’s probably glad she couldn’t see what happened next when he started blowing kisses at her. She didn’t notice but her sister and I definitely did. So did the elderly lady and her husband who were sat behind us. “What a lovely dalliance” she said to him, lovely is not the word I would use to describe that performance. My cousins thought I would mess up the tickets if they let me book them and instead, they were the ones who made the mistake.

That’s the end of today’s story, I hope everyone enjoyed it!

Have you had any interesting experiences at the Theatre? Let me know in the comments!

Book Reviews

All My Lies by Sophie Flynn Book Review

May 3, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Monday bookish people! Today is the first day on the blog/book tour for All My Lies by Sophie Flynn. Thank you to Anne Cater and Random T Tours for gifting me an e-copy of this book.

In this book review I will give star ratings to four categories and I will write a little about each one. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. I hope you enjoy my book review.

All My Lies Plot:

The plot pf this book absolutely fried my brain. There were so many twists and misleading paths I didn’t know who or what to believe the whole way through. I probably read this book the fastest I have ever read through a thriller/mystery book. The plot of this book was like the driver of a car and I was the passenger forced into the front and unable to get out. It was fast paced and the mystery was the main subject of the novel, it had many layers and each one was explored thoroughly and with an intensity that kept me hooked. Some parts were confusing, however I think that was the point – the main character was confused and so was the reader. I felt the ending was extremely satisfying and I’m definitely a little smug that I managed to guess what happened.

All My Lies Characters:

It is a testament to the author that she managed to make me love a character on one page and by the end of the next page I could lose all trust in them. I loved this, for me it added to the sense of mystery because I never really knew who was telling the truth – including the main character. I felt a connection with the main character, Anna, the things she was going through with her husband is something that many people have also experienced and can connect to. I thought there was a wonderful balance between the personalities of the characters and each of them had grown by the end of the book.

All My Lies Writing and Dialogue:

Sophie Flynn’s writing is so smooth and easy to follow, it’s easy to get swept into the story simply because of this. The dialogue is something I really enjoyed about this book. Personally I felt that there was a tiny bit too much explanation in the dialogue but I still thought each line of dialogue matched the characters it belonged to.

All My Lies Overall:

Overall, I gave this book four stars because I wanted to keep reading so badly that I sped through it and enjoyed every second.

Blurb/Synopsis:

Perfectly paced, suspenseful and gripping – a real page-turner’ SOPHIE HANNAH, author of Haven’t They Grown

‘A rollercoaster ride with a cast of flawed characters – an excellent debut from Sophie Flynn’ CATHERINE COOPER, author of The Chalet

‘A twisty, intense and emotional story with suspense on every page’ TM LOGAN,author of The Holiday and Trust Me

Anna wants to escape.
She doesn’t know when her marriage to James began to feel like a trap or when he became so controlling. All she knows is that she needs to leave before it’s too late.

And she has a plan.
When Anna reconnects with her childhood sweetheart, Sam, she sees it as the answer to her problems. Finally, they’ll have a life together, like they’d always planned – the life she was meant to have.

But the lies are catching up with her . . .
On the morning of their escape, Sam goes missing. Anna knows he wouldn’t leave her, that something must have happened to him.
Her search for answers will force her to confront her past, something that she has been running from for a very long time . . .

Perfect for fans of Louise Jensen, Phoebe Morgan and K.L. Slater, this is a twisty, tense psychological thriller about one woman’s hunt for the truth and her ultimate fight to break free.

Praise for All My Lies

‘I raced through All My Lies in a single weekend . . . I barely paused for breath until the final page. A must read’ HOLLY SEDDON, author of The Hit List

‘A fantastic debut that showcases how blind love can make us. Sophie Flynn has written a brilliant book that sucks the reader in and keeps them guessing throughout’ S.V. LEONARD, author of The Islanders

‘A fresh new voice in psychological suspense . . . Great characters, evocative writing, interesting locations and a page-turning plot with plenty of twists and turns. I can’t wait to see where Flynn goes next!’ SARAH LINLEY, author of The Trip

‘An exciting debut with a poisonous love triangle at its heart. Unsettling, compelling and twisty – perfect for thriller fans!’ RUBY SPEECHLEY, author of A Mother like You

‘I raced through this book, reading well into the early hours of the morning. Original, bold and highly compelling, this is a book that will stay with readers for a long time. It heralds the arrival of an exceptionally talented voice in crime fiction. A riveting debut!’ AWAIS KHAN, author of No Honour

‘A thrilling new voice – Sophie Flynn pulls the reader in with believable, strong characters and an explosive plot’ AMANDA BRITTANY, author of The Perfect Nanny

Sophie Flynn is a Cotswolds based psychological thriller author with an MA in
Creative Writing from Oxford Brookes. Alongside writing, Sophie is the Head
of Marketing at Jericho Writers. After being awarded a place at Swanwick
Writers’ Summer School on the TopWrite scheme for young writers in 2017,
Sophie began writing short fiction. She has since had many stories published
and placed in competitions with organisations such as Writing Magazine and
The Cheltenham Literature Festival.
When not writing, Sophie can mostly be found on muddy walks with her
husband and rescue dog or disappearing to Cornwall whenever possible. She
is represented by Kate Nash of Kate Nash Literary Agency.
To find out more, visit her website or follow her on Twitter.
sophieflynn.com | @sophielflynn

That’s it for this book review, I hope you all enjoyed it!

Monthly TBRs

May TBR!

April 30, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! Today I’m bringing you my May TBR and I am telling you now my TBR game was not kind to me this month. I just kept getting doubles on the dice and by the end I had 18 rolls to do… oh dear.

April.. didn’t go the way I planned and I ended up not reading very much. If you’d like to see what I did read go and check out my April Wrap-Up. I’m hoping that May will be a much better month for me so fingers crossed!

As well as my very long TBR I also have some books I need to read for my spots in book tours which I’m hoping to get read first and then concentrate on my TBR.

I also have a lot of contemporary on this month’s TBR, anyone who knows me will know that I do not really like contemporary.. so how did I end up with so many on my TBR? Well, I put the contemporary space on my game board so that I covered every genre and with all the rolls this month I kept landing on it… maybe I’ll find a new genre to like but I doubt it.

My May TBR:

First, Usually I would put pictures of the books on my TBR however, today for some reason it’s not letting me put the pictures in so I’m going to have to just list them and then see what is happening later.

The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni – I picked this one up because the cover is so beautiful! And also, the back of the book just said something like ‘keep her alive we are coming’ and that hooked me right in.
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – I have had this book on my shelves since it came out. I loved his book the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle so I have high hopes for this one.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik – I got this book in one of my Illumicrate boxes and it is so lovely, it has a gold cover and blue sprayed edges. It’s dark academia which is something that I am getting into quite recently.
Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly – a psychological thriller set in a ballet company just sounds amazing!
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – the first of many contemporaries this month.. I don’t know much about it but hopefully I will enjoy it.
Lore by Alexandra Bracken – I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this book so of course it’s straightaway on my TBR.
Six Tudor Queens: Katherine of Aragon the True Queen by Alison Weir – I love Historical Fiction especially the Tudor ones and I have read all of Philippa Gregory’s books to date so I needed some new Tudor stories and this is what I went with.
Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – I have seen a lot of good things about this book and I actually won my copy in a competition on Twitter.
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green – again I don’t know much about this at all but I’m hoping it will be a good read.
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I will get around to reading this at some point! I keep putting it on my TBR and then not reading it..
A Masked City by Genevieve Cogman – A librarian spy… I don’t need to say anything else about this.
A Gathering of Shadows by V E Scwab – I read A Darker Shade of magic a little while ago and it’s about time I read the second book in the series.
Radio Silence by Alice Oseman – there’s a lot of books this month I know nothing about but it is another contemporary.
Yes, No, Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Seed – It’s got a lovely bright yellow cover…

That’s it for my May TBR! Check back at the end of May to see how well or how badly I did with my reading!

Monthly Wrap Ups

April Wrap Up!

April 30, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Friday bookish people! It is the end of April already, this year is going way too fast for my liking. April was an incredibly busy month for me and I didn’t get very much reading done at all.

I started taking part in book tours this month which is really fun, I love getting to promote other books that I might not have usually picked up. I also finished up all my assessments (except the final dissertation) for my Master’s Degree which I’m happy about. I wasn’t so happy with the pieces I wrote but nevermind it’s been submitted now.

I think you can guess that I didn’t read most of my April TBR, I did read a couple of books that were not on my TBR though.

My April TBR:

All The Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace – I did not read
Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin – I did not read
Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan – I did not read
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas – I did not read
Furyborn by Claire LeGrand – I did not read
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter – I have started, I don’t think I will have it finished by the end of April but I have started it.
The Cousins by Karen M McManus – I have read! and I have a book review up for it.
Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angelles – I did not read
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – I did not read
Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao – I did not read
Master of One by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett – I did not read
The Shadows Between Us by Tricia Levenseller – I did not read
Save the Date by Morgan Matson I did not read

So… I did terribly on my April TBR. I read one book and started another, however, I read three other books this month that were not on my TBR which were:

The Making of Robert Moony by Jane Gilley
County Lines Road by Jane Gilley
Cosmic Queries by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

All three of these books I have written book reviews for and put them up on my blog already.

So I read four books in April and have started one other, I haven’t done that bad, not great but also not as badly as I thought.

That’s it for my April Wrap up, let me know if you’ve read any of the books that were on the TBR!

Book Reviews

Book Review: Cosmic Queries by Neil Degrasse Tyson

April 29, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Thursday bookish people! Today I am bringing you a book review for Cosmic Queries: StarTalk’s Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We’re Going by Neil Degrasse Tyson with James Trefil. Thank you to Trisha Collins and TLC Book Tours and National Geographic for kindly sending me a copy of this book to review.

This book review is going to be a little different to how I usually do them because there are no plots or characters to rate so what I am going to do is write about the really great parts of the book, what some of the chapters are about and give an overall rating for the book.

I hope you enjoy this book review!

About Cosmic Queries

• Publisher: National Geographic (March 2, 2021)
• Hardcover: 312 pages

In this thought-provoking follow-up to his acclaimed StarTalk book, uber astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tackles the world’s most important philosophical questions about the universe with wit, wisdom, and cutting-edge science.

For science geeks, space and physics nerds, and all who want to understand their place in the universe, this enlightening new book from Neil deGrasse Tyson offers a unique take on the mysteries and curiosities of the cosmos, building on rich material from his beloved StarTalk podcast.

In these illuminating pages, illustrated with dazzling photos and revealing graphics, Tyson and co-author James Trefil, a renowned physicist and science popularizer, take on the big questions that humanity has been posing for millennia–How did life begin? What is our place in the universe? Are we alone?–and provide answers based on the most current data, observations, and theories.

Populated with paradigm-shifting discoveries that help explain the building blocks of astrophysics, this relatable and entertaining book will engage and inspire readers of all ages, bring sophisticated concepts within reach, and offer a window into the complexities of the cosmos.

For all who loved National Geographic’s StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, and Space Atlas, this new book will take them on more journeys into the wonders of the universe and beyond.

Social Media

Please use the hashtag #CosmicQueries, and tag @tlcbooktours and @startalkradio.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Waterstones

About Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, host of the hit radio and Emmy-nominated TV show StarTalk, and the New York Times best-selling author of Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics and the Military. He lives in New York City.

Follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Review!

Okay, so I will start by saying that this is not my usual genre but I found this book incredibly interesting to read through. The author explains philosophical conundrums and other facts about the Universe in a natural, personable and easy to understand way.

One of the things I enjoyed about this book is that it includes various photographs and diagrams which break up the blocks of text and keep the pacing interesting and they also work really well for me because it gives me a visual for the facts that I am reading about. One of my favourite images in the book is of Alberta’s Abraham Lake at night with the Aurora Borealis.

Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book is that pictures of tweets by Neil deGrasse Tyson are spread throughout the book. For me this created a connection with the author, it gave him more of a personality which doesn’t always come through in the text itself. It helped me to understand his thinking a bit better.

In this book there is plenty of information covering lots of different topics such as: How big is the solar system?, Galaxies, naked eye astronomy, Galileo and the telescope, the radio universe, the big bang, planetary migration, the birth of chemistry and the edge of the map of time.

I couldn’t possibly pick a favourite topic or chapter from this book because there is so much information in the book and it was a very new genre to me and I enjoyed the learning experience I got from reading this book.

My overall rating of Cosmic Queries:

I would recommend this book to both those interested in the universe and those that aren’t as much because I feel there is something everyone can take from this book.

That’s it for this book review, I hope you enjoyed it!

Where'd I Leave It Wednesday

If God Had Siblings – Where’d I Leave It Wednesday

April 28, 2021 theblindscribe

Happy Wednesday everyone! It’s halfway through the week already, is it me or are the weeks passing by really quickly? It’s probably just me. Today’s post is another Where’d I Leave it Wednesday, it seems like the more life story/memoir writing is working for the moment so that’s what I’m going to keep going with.

Today’s story is all about my encounters with religion, there haven’t been many – not including my secondary school Christian assemblies – but some of them are included in this story.

I hope you all enjoy it!

If God Had Siblings

If God had siblings I’m not a religious person. I think that there might be a God but if there is, he’s not that helpful. I was christened. It was the same day my sister got chicken pox and she decided to pick at the spots in the middle of her forehead, right between her eyes. There is a scar there now that I like to poke at. It’s the same size as my fingernail and if I put my finger there it looks like she has grown a horn. She says if it’s a horn then she is a unicorn, I say a rhino.

I haven’t been to Church since I was a young child and my Grandparents believed that if you didn’t go to church at Christmas you couldn’t be buried there. I enjoyed these visits; I didn’t understand the idea of God behind it but I liked playing with the toy sheep of the Nativity scene. I even slipped one into my pocket one year. I named it Dave. We would stand in order of height and sing Christmas carols from the lyrics on the projector. Of course, to me the lyrics looked like the static on a television. A mixture of black and white waves flowing up and down, over and over again. I did what any other visually impaired child, with an imagination, would do. I made the lyrics up myself. I sang loudly every year to the reimagined Christmas carols “Little Doggy” and “Once Royal Daddy’s Sleepy”. I was not talented at singing. The elderly couple that sat behind my family every year would see us enter the church and take from their bags a set of earmuffs each which they would wear as soon as I stepped up on the bench for the carols. Strangely, nobody would correct my wrong lyrics. They allowed me to sing like nails on a chalkboard, louder every year until my Grandma told me we would not be continuing to attend the church carol services. We started going to the Pantomime every Christmas Eve instead. I wasn’t allowed to talk there; I think that is why they chose it.

Even though we stopped attending the church these were not the only moments that they have tried to talk to me. There are always people stood outside the large shopping centre in my town. They are usually dressed all in black, black suits, black dresses, long black overcoats that make them look like sketchy stalkers misplaced from an old Scooby Doo episode. They carry poster boards tucked under one arm, chasing unimpressed customers around the grey bollards like seagulls going after a pasty. Usually I try to avoid them, the idea of them stopping me to try and ask about my views on religion makes me go cold throughout my body.

This one day, I stopped on the pavement the other side of the road to the shopping centre. The paving stones rose up from the ground in front of me, rising and falling, sloping under the ball of my cane like mountains. The texture of the ground changed as my cane met the tarmac of the road. I stopped instantly, allowing my ears to pick up on every sound around me. The whistle came from the left as the air pressure changed, I felt it on the exposed skin of my hands as the bicycle passed me. Then I could hear nothing so I crossed the road. My cane lodged in a hole and I wobbled like a jelly before an arm steadied me. It was an older woman, dressed all in black. “What unsteady feet you have” were the first words the strange woman said to me. It made me think of the story of Red Riding Hood and the Wolf dressed as her Grandmother, I only just stopped myself from checking if the woman had sharp teeth protruding from her mouth. Her coat was zipped up to her chin and leaflets were stuffed in the top pocket where a handkerchief would usually be. They were religious leaflets but she seemed to be trying to help me so I allowed her to lead me towards the shopping centre entrance. Then she started talking. “God wants to help you”, “God wants to make everyone feel happy”. While she continued to animatedly tell me why I should gift my soul to God I watched the drops of heavily falling rain trickle down her cheeks. They looked like tears. Tears don’t make her look happy; God wasn’t making me feel happy right then either. The only things I felt were cold and wet.

I thanked the woman for her help and attempted to pry my arm from her grip. Her face contorted; her smile changed from a fake smile to a frown. “Sinner” she told me “you must be a sinner; God is punishing you and that is why you are blind. If you pray and go to Church, he will remove his punishment and you will be healed.” First, she was telling me that God just wants me to be happy and now she was telling me that he wanted to punish me. I couldn’t think of much that God would want to punish me for, perhaps the time that I pinned my sister to the floor and sat on her chest to keep her there when I was four years old and my sister was seven. If God had siblings then he would understand. I didn’t want to tell her that there was a scientific reason behind my sight loss or that I wasn’t sure I believed in God because I didn’t want to upset her. I walked away from the wolf grandma who continued to call after me “sinner, sinner”. I pretended that I didn’t know it was me she was still talking to. That encounter didn’t change my opinion. I’m still not a religious person.

That’s it for today’s story, I hope everyone enjoyed reading it!